Pat Ford

Around 6/15/2016   after many months of all my blood counts  taking a dive and as I continued to be tired 24 x 7 and there seemed to be no improvement.     I was sent to Duke Cancer Center / Durham and diagnosed  as having  a form of leukemia called MDS (MyeloDysplastic Syndrome) which results in low red & white blood cells & platelets caused by bone marrow failure. We were told that this type leukemia was most likely brought on by the chemo I took three years prior after my colon cancer. The progression leads to  Acute Miloid Luekemia. This type leukemia  is extremely aggressive. My treatment started immediately using a chemotherapy  called Vidaza . which was administered five days on and two weeks off. After two cycles I developed septic arthritis in my left knee for which I was hospitalized 10 days to have fluid removed  followed by flushing with antibiotic fluid.

After that I was told that chemo was no longer a viable treatment and I was put on a bone marrow simulant Granix  which is administrated via injection three days a week

A month later I began to run a high fever again and was hospitalized  again and given large doses of antibiotics again only later to discover I had developed a sizeable blood clot behind my  left knee for which I could not take any blood thinner and  a  Vena mesh was installed  to trap any breakup pieces which could have gotten to my lungs / brain.  After seven days I was released to home and here we are ten weeks later .

I am quarantined ( confined to home with very few visitors)  and being "Maintained" with complete blood checks weekly, three trips to the clinic weekly to receive the Granix injections and two units of red blood cells about every other week.